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A 91-year-old man teetering on the brink of dementia is brought back to life by an unlikely friendship — and an even more unlikely medical procedure — in "The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey," a moving and unfussily gorgeous novel by Walter Mosley. Restored to his faculties, but with a limited lease on life, Grey dedicates himself to uncovering the mystery around his nephew's murder. Mosley's rendering of this man's return is just right. Grey might be sharper, but he still lives in the past, something, this book quietly suggests, is one of the reasons this country is still so divided by race.